Couple thoughts here:

First, people get badly hurt in sprint car racing every year. These days we lose far less of them than we used to, thanks to better safety practices and medical care. The cars, while faster than ever, are as safe as they've ever been. I think we've been pretty lucky here in the Indiana non-wing scene for a little while as far as serious injuries go, and this season it caught up with us. Chalk it up to a rough year. It's the law of averages, and nothing more.

My second take contradicts the first just a bit. Instead of looking at the injuries, why aren't we looking at the causes? I wasn't at Paducah when Kenny Biro was hurt, but didn't he come down cage-first on top of the wall? Why are sprint cars racing at a high-speed track like that without a fence on the wall? It's a recipe for disaster, and it's hurt people two years in a row (Biro this year, Boespflug and Clayton last.) And it's not just Paducah, Kamp and others have the same issue.

As far as the McIntosh incident goes, I ask you this: Would we be having this conversation if she would have had something break in turns three and four of the old track? Highly unlikely. In my opinion, and I preface this by saying that I haven't yet visited new Lawrenceburg, that track is too high-speed to host a weekly show. Judging from all the video I've seen, all the talk I've heard, etc., it's akin to racing every Saturday at Eldora; you're just asking to get a few guys hurt over the course of a season. Would a SAFER barrier have helped Arin? I don't know, but maybe it's something Lawrenceburg should look into since they've poured all that money into the facility and there's really no going back now.

Just my opinions.